Meet Our Partners

The American Pharmacists Association, founded in 1852 as the American Pharmaceutical Association, represents more than 62,000 practicing pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, student pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and others interested in advancing the profession. APhA, dedicated to helping all pharmacists improve medication use and advance patient care, is the first-established and largest association of pharmacists in the United States. APhA members provide care in all practice settings, including community pharmacies, hospitals, long-term care facilities, managed care organizations, hospice settings, and the military.

Michael Negrete, PharmD is the Chief Executive Officer of the Pharmacy Foundation of California (PFC), a 501(c)(3) public-benefit corporation.  PFC was incorporated in 1977 as the California Pharmacists Association Educational Foundation for the purpose of improving and promoting the public health through the performance of education, research and information dissemination related to the field of pharmacy.  Much of the Foundation’s work now pertains to promoting safe medication use and reducing medication errors – particularly in the outpatient setting.

Dr. Negrete is a recognized author, speaker and expert in the field of safe and effective medication use.  He regularly writes articles for the California Pharmacist and has been published in various national pharmacy and health marketing journals.  He has also been recently invited to join the Editorial Board of AMA Healthy America which will be a direct-to-patient magazine distributed through the offices of 100,000 of the highest-volume and highest-prescribing primary care physician offices in the United States.  Dr. Negrete has been quoted in numerous newspapers including USA Today, the New York Times and the LA Times; and has appeared on many television news casts and television shows including CBS’s The Doctors.

Prior to his employment with PFC, Dr. Negrete served as the Chief Executive Officer of Premier Pharmacists Networks (PPN).  PPN was established in 2004 by the California Pharmacists Association to create, manage, support and market networks of pharmacists and pharmacies that provide specialized medication therapy management services.

In addition to his work at PPN, Dr. Negrete served as the Vice President of Professional Affairs for the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA). Dr. Negrete’s responsibilities with CPhA included interacting with the media, California legislature, regulatory authorities, and other key stakeholder groups regarding pharmacy-related clinical and policy issues.

Dr. Negrete is also a Media Advisor for the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), serving as a resource for journalists who are working on stories that involve improving medication use and advancing patient care by pharmacists.

Dr. Negrete was previously employed by Blue Shield of California where he worked on a variety of population-based disease management and provider education initiatives.  Prior to that, Michael was employed at the VA Northern California Health Care System where he worked in various pharmacist-run disease management clinics.

Dr. Negrete earned his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).

Alison Sweeney is busy juggling the roles of host for NBC’s hit reality series “The Biggest Loser” and the award-winning Sami Brady on NBC’s hit daytime drama “Days of our Lives.”

Sweeney made her debut as host for season four of “The Biggest Loser” on September 4, 2007. Having openly discussed her own weight loss struggles, Sweeney was thrilled when the show producers asked her to join the show. Since then, Sweeney has been featured in such magazines as People, US Weekly, OK!, Quick and Simple, Complete Woman, Health and many more. Her talk show appearances include “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Ellen,” “Today,” “Rachel Ray” and several segments for “Access Hollywood.”

Sweeney has played the role of Sami Brady on “Days of Our Lives” for more than 16 years and her performance has garnered numerous awards including The Soap Opera Digest Awards four times (1986, ’98, ’99 and 2001) for the role of “Favorite Villain” and the award for “Favorite Good Girl” in 2001.  Sweeney also won the award for “America’s Favorite Villain” at the 29th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. 

She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, a California Highway Patrol officer, and their 3-year-old son Ben and newborn daughter Megan.